Let's get started

The Australis' engine is a Perkins 236-4. I'm by far a diesel expert but on three occasions in my limited experience I have come in contact with this same engine. Once in my Dad's Massey Ferguson 585 harvester (1963 vintage I believe), once in the Flinders Chase, the Adams 45 I fitted out, and here, in the Australis. I really like this engine for it's basic simplicity and also that it's pretty much ubiquitous in every nook and cranny of the Commonwealth since it has been used extensively in agriculture equipment and generator sets all around the world. It's cheap, basic and simple.  I imagine the Taiwanese were sourcing them out of Hong Kong when it was a British Overseas Territory back before it went under Chinese rule in 1997.

Why do you, who deals with all kinds of modern whiz-giggery, care that your diesel be as basic as possible? Well, I'm glad you asked...

 Back in 2011, my colleague and 2nd cousin Geoff Cook and I had a great opportunity to support a salvage survey in a small island group down in the South Atlantic; Tristan De Cunha.  Tristan is the most remote inhabited island group in the world.  It's 300 or so residents live a good life rearing a few sheep, potatoes and fishing for crayfish (rock lobster).  In early 2011, a Greek freighter, MS Oliva,  loaded with 60,000 odd tons of soy beans ran fair smack, at 18 knots, into one of the outer islands of the group; Nightingale Island.  The damage to the island and it's birdlife from the subsequent oil spill and smothering caused by the soybeans released into the sea was as significant as it was sad.

In November of 2011 our company, SeaView Systems, Inc., was contracted to join a salvage expedition to go out to Tristan De Cunha from Cape Town (5 day sail) to support a survey of the wreck to establish the extent of the damage and, if possible, propose a means to remove the wreck from the island.

As part of the expedition preparations, the salvage company we were working for purchased a brand new rigid inflatable from which we were to perform the inshore surveys.  The craft made from HDPE by Rhinomarine had a Hamilton Jet and was extremely tough and maneuverable.  Seemingly ideal for the extraordinary location where it was to be deployed.  Among it's checklist of features was a fancy new European diesel engine.

Well, it's a long, bumpy way from Cape Town to Tristan De Cunha.  We traveled aboard an ocean going tug and for 5 or more days, the back deck, including the RIB, was awash.  Once we arrived on location at Nightingale Island the salvage crew went to check out the boat.  They lifted the engine bay lid only to find the engine compartment completely full of seawater.  The manufacturers of the beautiful new RIB had forgotten one small detail; a drain bung!

Once drained out, attempts were made to start the engine.  Geoff and I spent a couple of days stripping and cleaning all the wiring in the hope that it might spring to life but despite a few coughs and farts, it wouldn't run and we had to conclude that the ECU was fried.  Yes, I'm sure the ECU would squeeze another 5% of efficiency out of that engine but maximum efficiency is not the key specification for an engine in that application.  Instead, it's reliability and ease of service that really make the difference.  Had that engine  been a clunky old Perkins, I've no doubt at all that we could have gotten it to run.  Instead, we had to go to the islanders, cap in hand, to ask if they would let us rent one of their outboards.  They graciously agreed and the salvage crew jury rigged engine mounts and the ancient 250hp outboard was controlled by a length of water pipe lashed to it.  A far cry from the nimble Hamilton Jet that we had planned to use as we surveyed within one swell's wavelength from a cliff face on the windward side of the island in the South Atlantic.

So, the Australis engine is old, simple and clunky, just the way I like it.

Given the simplicity, I was a little frustrated this last summer when I went to head out for a daysail with some friends for the first outing in months, only to find that the engine would not turn over.  I tried bypassing the solenoid to no effect.  After some messing about I found that by tapping the starter with a soft mallet I must have jolted the brushes on the commutator enough that the starter spun straight into life and we went off and enjoyed the days outing.

Arriving back alongside I recalled that I had a spare starter onboard and changed out the starters, thinking that the "new" starter would be good for another 20 years or so and that I could look into getting the "old" one refurbished (or exchanged).  I installed the new starter in minutes and it seemed to run fine.

Fast forward another two months and I'm back from working in the North Sea.  The yacht hasn't been run for two months.  I have Jonas onboard and we're planning on heading out for a few day adventure together.  We're all packed and ready to go, I go to start the engine....nothing.  What??!  Can it be that the new starter is bad too?  Certainly not.  I reason that the issue must be a voltage drop over the old starting conductor  and that it must have been a coincidence that the starter kicked in after I had been tapping it with the mallet.

I had a solenoid onboard and stout wire so I installed a small lighting solenoid right at the main starter solenoid to ensure that it received a good, healthy 12V starting command.  I try again and the engine roars into life.  Great, that was it, and off we go.

Heading off to Put-in-bay, all is going well and I'm looking forward to our few days together but as we steam along I'm noticing that the engine temperature is continuing to climb.  The engine typically runs pretty cool and so this is a concern.  Finally, I can go no more and I have to shut down the engine.  As the engine cools a thunder storm comes in and there we are on a lee shore in torrential downpour with no engine.  I anchored and waited things out.  Things were not going so good so I decided that once the weather settled down a bit I'd head back to shore and see what was going on.

Once the engine cooled I topped it up and went to start the engine again..no start.  What!!?  I thought I had fixed that!  It MUST be a dodgy commutator.  I hit the starter (more of a hit by this stage than a tap!) and sure enough, it kicks in.  Oh boy.  My spare was not a spare, it was a bad starter.  That is one of my pet hates.  Something that is posing to be a spare or a tool but is in fact broken.  More dangerous than not having it at all since you believe you have an asset though in fact you just have a red herring fooling you into thinking your covered....but I digress.  In fact, I digress from my digression.

So, finally I get to the point of this post.  Here we are in February and I have a duff starter that needs attention.  Today I opened up the starter to see what was afoot.

Starter set up to open

When I opened up the motor I saw quite a bit of moisture entrapped inside.  I don't rightly know if this was there from when it was on the boat or if it happened where I was storing the starter.  In any case, the commutator was quite grimy as were the brushes.

Commutator and brushes (taken after I had cleaned the commutator)

End cap and bearing with two holding bolts

To start cleaning out the motor I flushed it with electric motor degreaser.  I recommend this product as being something that you should carry onboard.  It's quite a bit stronger than the lighter contact cleaner (which you should also carry) and it will cut through a lot of the fine grime that resides around the commutator.

Cleaning tools:  Acid brushes and 600 and 400 grit wet and dry

Electric Motor Degreaser

To clean the commutator I first scrubbed the commutator clean with an acid brush which I had removed all but the last 1/4" stub of hairs.

Once degreased, I first tried to make a cleaning tool by bending a folded piece of 600 grit wet and dry paper over an acid brush handle with the hairs removed.  This proved to be too fine and just gummed up.  So, I then tried with 400 grit and this seemed to clean the commutators nicely without being too aggressive.  I was tempted to remove the brushes but they looked like they would have been very tricky to reinstall and so, I just pushed them open with a spanner and cleaned them off with degreaser and 400 grit paper.

Once I worked my way all around the commutator it all seemed pretty clean and bright and so I cleaned the bearing and re-assembled the unit.

Finally, the proof of the pudding.  Using an emergency car power pack I tried the motor out and sure enough, it kicked into life every time.

Testing the starter.  Kicks in every time.

Would you go to sea with this starter?  I'm not convinced ... yet, but I think it might prove to be OK. What I'm going to do is install this starter and then buy a "new" reconditioned starter to keep as my spare.  This time, with a greater expectation that my spare may actually be operational.  If I run into trouble again, it's only a 10-15 minute job to change out.  Let's hope that that moment isn't when I've just stalled the engine and I'm drifting downwind onto a $2,000,000 Hatteras.  You can be sure that I'll be testing this plenty before heading out for the first time.